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An engineering professor of a first-year thermodynamics course and a PhD student with a focus in engineering education in a large research university in Canada participated in an ethnographic action research study with the intention of increasing active learning in the classroom to enhance student engagement and learning. Unexpected findings included transformative changes to the professor's epistemology of teaching and learning. Through the action research cycle of planning, implementing, observing, and critically reflecting, modifications were made to the instructional strategies and the learning environment that created a micro engineering community of practice where both students and teaching assistants engaged in deep learning and legitimate peripheral participation on the trajectory to 'becoming engineers'. Qualitative interview data from the professor, three students, and three teaching assistants are analysed through approaches to learning research and situated learning theory. Engaging in action research had profound repercussions in this case. The authors make the argument for action research as a catalyst for transformative learning required for teachers to engage students in the twenty-first century classroom.

This paper explores Canadian engineering employers' perceptions of and experiences with internationally educated engineers (recent immigrants to Canada) employed in their organisations for varying lengths of time. Qualitative data were collected from employers using focus group methodology. Findings reflected employers' observations of culturally different behaviours and characteristics in their internationally educated employees, employers' reactions to cultural differences ranging from negative attributions to tolerance, and the implementation of largely "ad hoc" intra-organisational strategies for managing cultural differences in employer--employee relationships. Findings exposed the lack of corporate intercultural competency in the Canadian engineering profession. Equity and gatekeeping implications are discussed.

Profiles two women from student engineering teams who participated in a study on collaboration and the role of gender. Shows that men and women alike displayed both gender-linked and non-gender-linked behavior, and that successful collaboration was influenced less by gender and more by such factors as a strong work ethic, team commitment, and effective leadership. (RS)

This paper reports on the impact of using custom animation software to teach second/third year computer/electrical engineering students in the microprocessing systems course at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. Over the span of 13 years' experience with teaching the course, the difficulties and limitations with conventional lectures and visual aids led to the development of custom animation of the course material to provide an additional teaching modality to teach the complex and abstract subject matter more effectively. The custom animation software consists of the ability to create and/or modify microinstructions, create and/or modify macroinstructions, and animate the execution of instructions (using the 'water-flowing through pipes' analogy) by showing address and data transmission juxtaposed against an animated clock. A postunit, mixed method survey administered to students reveals substantial cognitive gains and modest motivational outcomes, reinforcing the animation's effectiveness and sparking motivation for further research. Index Terms--Computer animation, courseware, macroinstruction, microinstruction, microprocessor, microprogrammability, mixed method survey, postunit.

Three student engineering teams are profiled with emphasis on the theory that gender can play an important role in achieving a successful team dynamic. This study partially supports that theory.

In 2009, the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB) called for the assessment of 12 graduate attributes in all Canadian accredited engineering programs. As part of this process, data are required from a variety of stakeholders, including the faculties responsible for teaching the host of courses offered in Canada's diverse engineering programs. This paper describes the second year of a three-year study in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba that explores how the CEAB graduate attributes are manifested and measured in its curricula. The four attributes targeted were Problem Analysis, Use of Engineering Tools, Communication Skills, and Ethics and Equity. Fifteen instructors from each of the Departments of Biosystems, Civil, Electrical and Computer, and Mechanical Engineering considered the presence of these attributes in one of their engineering courses taught in the academic year 2012-13, using a self-administered checklist. Findings indicated that the traditional attributes in engineering were assessed more frequently than the professional attributes, and that specifically, there was little assessment evidence of Ethics and Equity and the Oral focus of Communication Skills. There was some evidence of formative assessment, but generally assessments were limited to traditional quantitative, summative assessments. Competency levels were expressed in a variety of ways, highlighting the need for the development of a common language for assessment. The study underscores the different roles assessment can take and the complexity of sustaining a faculty-wide, outcomes-based assessment protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from an exploratory study designed to examine the role of a cooperative education term in the integration of international engineering graduates (immigrant engineers) into the Canadian engineering profession. The participants in this study were all enrolled in a university-based qualifications recognition program, of which a co-operative education term is one critical component. Data were gathered through focus group interviews, which were designed to obtain their perceptions of the cooperative education experience and its relationship to their career development. Data were interpreted through a theoretical framework of cultural categories and social and cultural capital, with the aim of discerning enabling and disabling aspects of a cooperative education experience to immigrant professionals' career development. Data reveal that the most profound obstacles concerned participants' expectations and competencies in the cultural norms and interactional styles that are unique to the North American professional workplace. The implementation of a professional practice component in the academic portion of the university-based program (prior to cooperative education placement) helped students to develop a heightened awareness of cultural differences in the workplace. The coop term built on this preparation and equipped them with opportunities to recognize and develop social and cultural capital in the Canadian context, relative to the cultivation of professional skills (soft skills) and exposure to mentoring and networking opportunities. Implications are drawn regarding the integration of immigrant professionals and the relationship of findings to other under-represented groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the 20-year career paths of three women engineering graduates who took part in a larger quantitative/qualitative research study on the career mobility of engineers in the province of Manitoba, Canada. The results of in-depth interviews reveal that women graduates of the 1980s, while subject to discriminatory attitudes and practices at the beginning of their careers, have also been beneficiaries of societal, organizational and engineering-related improvements towards gender equity. Implications are drawn on the importance of mentoring strategies to women's career success in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a retrospective account of three women graduates from a Canadian school of engineering whose experiences span a 25 year period from the 1970s, where women's enrolment was sporadically few, to the late 1990s, where it achieved close to 25%--the largest enrolment seen to date. In-depth interviews were conducted with these women focusing on their university and work experiences and the barriers they have encountered. Their profiles reveal that while women's structural representation in engineering improved significantly during this time span, cultural practices and attitudes towards them have been more resistant to change. Key areas connected to career success are touched on, including mentorship, networking and the importance of gaining acceptance into male engineering circles. The author has kept the precise identity of the institution and its locale confidential due to participants' concerns about maintaining anonymity and some events and practices, which although representative of many universities at various points in time, could be seen as damaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents follow-up interviews conducted with two women engineers who took part in a qualitative study by the author on gender and collaboration in an engineering classroom six years earlier. The women compare their student experiences with their emerging professional lives to highlight the barriers they have overcome as well as the obstacles remaining in this traditionally male-dominated profession. Pedagogical implications are drawn and the value of incorporating engineering work experience into the curriculum for women students in particular, is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]